


Day 28: Beaten

by Aelaer



Series: Whumptober 2019 [28]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Cthulhu Mythos, Death Rituals, Gen, Horror, Human Sacrifice, Whumptober 2019, at least seemingly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 17:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelaer/pseuds/Aelaer
Summary: And then suddenly he was looking out to the vast emptiness of space. An involuntary shiver ran down Stephen's spine as he gazed into the abyss; it was definitely an outer space of some sort, but the stars were gone, consumed by something both powerful and evil. This he inherently knew, a fact that resonated within his very bones.
Series: Whumptober 2019 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1510820
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Day 28: Beaten

**Author's Note:**

> This is the prompt of choosing the definition! For "Beaten", I'm using the definition of "defeated" (though he's definitely not in good shape, either).
> 
> Also fulfills Bad Things Happen Bingo's "Tied to a Pole", though I am choosing to believe that by pole, "posts" is also acceptable for the prompt. They're nearly synonymous. I just really wanted wooden posts rather than metal poles, you know?
> 
> This is part of a series:
> 
> Part 1: [Day 9: Shackled](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076163)  
Part 2: [Day 13: Alt #16 - Bound](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21130214)  
Part 3: [Day 16: Alt #7- Winded](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21179225)  
Part 4: [Day 18: Muffled Scream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204038)
> 
> Warnings for: Being sacrificed to an eldritch horror out of HP Lovecraft's mythos.

When Stephen stirred back to consciousness, pain flared from his hands down his arms and across his back. An involuntary moan tried to make its way out, but he was still gagged and the sound came out as a muffled nothing.

He forced his unwilling eyes open and found that his situation had not improved in the slightest. If anything, it was worse. During his time unconscious, it seems the occultists had erected some sort of wooden saltire cross upon the altar and bound him in a kneeling position to the posts. The ropes dug into his sensitive wrists and, with much of his weight hanging from them during his time knocked out, any sort of movement currently caused a sharp pain down his arms and across his shoulder muscles where they joined with the throbbing burns of the lacerations on his back.

Inhaling sharply through his nose, Stephen carefully straightened his position and shot a baleful glare at the group of occultists gathered in front of the altar.

At the moment they appeared to be paying little attention to him. His eyes narrowed as he watched a series of magics he was only vaguely familiar with spread through the air. It was some form of Chaos Magic, of that he was certain, but its specific formations were more precise and refined than any practices he knew of. Was it possibly a hybrid of some sort? He studied their formations as they continued for several more minutes, working on committing what he saw to memory.

Eventually, the beginnings of a strange gateway started to form just on the edge of the altar and about three feet in front of him. Stephen narrowed his eyes at the foggy purple and black smoke began to weave the soft borders of the arch-like entrance. As the occultists continued their spell, the smoke began to grow darker and heavier in form until it appeared almost solid.

And then, suddenly, he was no longer looking through the empty portal at the occultists but the vast emptiness of space. An involuntary shiver ran down Stephen's spine as he gazed into the abyss; it was definitely an outer space of some sort, but the stars were gone, consumed by something both powerful and evil. This he inherently knew, a fact that resonated within his very bones.

His eyes darted towards the left edge of the portal; he thought he saw something move. Or maybe he did not see it, but rather felt it, again an instinctual  _ knowing _ —

There was definitely something moving, something he couldn't exactly see but could wholly feel, a presence and a power that he could only equivocate to Dormammu. And that was a terrifying thought.

The presence began to take on a shape in the black beyond. Though there was no light within the void, still Stephen was able to perceive a sheen of green; his third eye saw streaks of purple, dark and lifeless and the innate perception that came upon him before just  _ knew _ that this creature's form went beyond what any mortal eyes could ever witness. The green and purple mingled, turning into a murky color that seemed to split into another angle, another polygon before separating out again into more normalcy, and the constant shifting in shape, in color made him dizzy. He dimmed the intensity of his third eye, threw a veil over it to better understand the physical manifestation of the sheer power in front of him.

The runs of green began to take shape into the form of several moving pieces, dozens of slender vines at the tips that grew wider and thicker at the base of a completely black mass with no definition. He focused upon the vines, narrowing his eyes, squinting at the harsh contrasts of sheen with the inky blackness fighting against the impossibility of moving through its own form into dimensions beyond human sight, and then he realized, he realized— 

Those were tentacles.

And then the nothingness that held this mass of grasping, wreathing, reaching tentacles opened its single eye, wide and searing.

##  **I SEE YOU.**

Stephen screamed around the gag as its presence easily entered his mind and broke through his entire being with its burning power. Mindlessly he thrashed against his bonds, uncaring of the hurt it caused his wrists, simply following the primal instinct of  _ run run run run _ .

As he struggled fruitlessly, several long limbs reached towards the gateway, going straight to him. They reached out to take him, to take him to consume him as this being had done time and time again. 

At that moment Stephen knew he was going to die, and he knew his death would be a long process filled only with agony.

**Author's Note:**

> It was rather challenging to figure out how to explain something that was supposed to have more angles and being than really should be possible. A kaleidoscope is probably the closest we'll ever really get to it— or one of those really weird Escher-type drawings that aren't possible in a 3D space.
> 
> Definitely pulled some All-Seeing Eye feels from _The Lord of the Rings_, here. I thought it appropriate (and I haven't read too much of the Cthulhu mythos to pull much from that, though I do have a general understanding of it).


End file.
